The Cities of Eternal Fog

Walk in darkness, hunt in fog.

Touch of Shadow

This first level of Obfuscate allows the vampire to conceal
small items, either in her grasp or on her person. If she is skilled
enough, even a thorough search fails to turn up a hidden object.
Increasingly larger objects might be hidden if the Discipline
user is particularly adept.

Cost:—

Dice Pool: Wits + Larceny + Obfuscate

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The attempt fails and the user actually
draws attention to the fact that she’s trying to hide something.
Further uses of Obfuscate against people present to witness
the dramatic failure incur a -1 penalty for the remainder
of the scene.

Failure: The attempt fails.

Success: The character can hide a single object from
sight, unless someone actively searches for that specific
item. Indeed, “specific” is very literal here — a character
looking for “an Obfuscated book” does not find it, though
she does if she’s looking for “the Ordo Dracul Kogaion’s
handwritten and leather-bound copy of 17th-century rituals”
and has seen it before.

Exceptional Success: The character hides the object even
if a searcher knows exactly what she seeks.
The player must declare which specific item is concealed
and the power must be invoked separately for each item.
If the roll succeeds, the item goes undetected. Perhaps a
careful search such as a pat-down or close examination reveals
it, along with a Wits + Composure roll, successes from
which must exceed those rolled for the activation of the
power. As with all Obfuscate abilities, a character with

Auspex might be able to see through Touch of Shadow
(though he would still have to find the object normally if it
were inside a pocket or otherwise physically concealed from
view). Once the character does anything to draw attention
to the object — such as deliberately showing it to someone
or using it to attack or threaten — Touch of Shadow ends. If
someone successfully detects the item, he can point it out to
others. A Wits + Composure roll is made for each such person,
and successes achieved must exceed those acquired in
the Wits + Larceny + Obfuscate roll made for the Discipline
user. If an onlooker’s successes aren’t high enough, he still
doesn’t recognize the item, even when it’s pointed out.

Note that this power affects only the item in question. A
character could not, for example, conceal a mailbox and then
hide behind it or conceal a computer and hide a stake beneath
it. The mailbox or computer would indeed be concealed
but the character or stake would not.

Once invoked, Touch of Shadow lasts for a scene or until
ended prematurely.

Suggested Modifiers

Modifier Situation

+2 A tiny item, one easily concealed in the palm
of a hand.

+1 An item that can be hidden in a pants pocket.

— An item that can be squeezed into a pants
pocket or easily hidden in a jacket pocket.

-1 An item that can only barely be squeezed into a
large jacket pocket.

-2 An item that can be concealed under a jacket
without too obvious a bulge.

-3 An item too large to be naturally hidden, but
still small enough to be carried easily.

-3 The “item” is actually an abstract ideal or negative
space, such as a hallway or portal to another room.
If a closed door seals the portal, this is not subject to
the penalty, as all the Kindred needs to do is hide
the door, not the portal itself.

-4 An item as large as the vampire herself, such as
a motorcycle.

-5 An item bigger than the vampire herself, such as a
car or large shipping crate, but smaller than five
times the vampire’s Size.

Apocryphal tales insist that sepulchers, tractor-trailers and
even entire buildings have been hidden from the sight of
others, but that’s just not possible… is it?